Quentin
"We have met the enemy and he is us." Pogo Possum "We have met the anemone... and he is Russ." Bucky Katt "Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Niels Bohr, Nobel laureate in physics
QUOTE: Originally posted by greyhounds Oh for Cripe's Sake! What a bunch a Democrats/socialists/Canadians! You guys don't have a clue. Do you have any concept of why Ford put a better seat in my car with a cup holder? I'd guess you all don't. It's because they figured out that I'd pay for such things. Metra, being a socialist/gubernmint entity, likewise, does not have a clue. When it was formed, as a thinly concealed effort to transfer income from the suburbs to the city, the great George W. Hilton said: "I can't think of a more regressive way to spend tax money than hauling the citizens of Barrington around, but it's all the rage." So, we're stuck with it. But they don't have to offer one class of service on their socialist trains now do they? They could offter better seating, beverage service, and high speed wireless Internet - and not have to "beg" for the funding now couldn't they. They could simply charge extra for such things. It sure would be nice. We, the people of suburbia, are not all paupers. I freely choose to pay for access to the Internet via a DSL service, satelite TV, meals taken at a restaurant, etc. Why shouldn't I have similar options on the commuter train. I'll tell you why I don't - it's because the damn gubernmint is in charge. OK, I'm going to try. I'm going to try to form a for profit corporation that buys space from Metra and resells it to the public with enhanced amenities - I'll probably be blocked by our socialist gubernmint here in Illinois, but I'm going to try.
QUOTE: Originally posted by lincoln5390 We built our freeway system as a public works project, but put signs on all the entrance ramps prohibiting use by a large segment of the population that cannot, should not or chooses not to drive cars. And we've done nothing to guarantee that this exclusion will not result in disenfranchisement. We've put too much of our new growth in places that are not served by alternatives to the auto. When we sit down and try to understand what rights non-motorists have in a society where driving is a privilege (not a right) we might make progress toward having a transportation system that serves everyone equitably in a cost-effective manner. Trouble with us humans is we're always looking for a "cure" for walking.
I tried to sell my two cents worth, but no one would give me a plug nickel for it.
I don't have a leg to stand on.
QUOTE: Originally posted by Junctionfan I don't know what the socialist do over there but here, we like our passenger trains and commuter trains and try to do a good job in keeping the ridership happy as well as consistantly higher. Perhaps those gubernmit's are not true socialists; it is difficult to be a true socialist in a Republic country unlike Canada which is a "parlimentary democracy". NDP and Liberal are well liked an in fact the Conservatives are not as favourable.
Brought to you by the letters C.P.R. as well as D&H!
K1a - all the way
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
QUOTE: Originally posted by lincoln5390 There's nothing in the U.S. Constitution that says anyone has to provide anyone else with transportation. If anyone wants an alternative to walking he/she should be willing to pay the full social cost of that service. We built our freeway system as a public works project, but put signs on all the entrance ramps prohibiting use by a large segment of the population that cannot, should not or chooses not to drive cars. And we've done nothing to guarantee that this exclusion will not result in disenfranchisement. We've put too much of our new growth in places that are not served by alternatives to the auto. When we sit down and try to understand what rights non-motorists have in a society where driving is a privilege (not a right) we might make progress toward having a transportation system that serves everyone equitably in a cost-effective manner. Trouble with us humans is we're always looking for a "cure" for walking.
QUOTE: Originally posted by CP5415 QUOTE: Originally posted by Junctionfan I don't know what the socialist do over there but here, we like our passenger trains and commuter trains and try to do a good job in keeping the ridership happy as well as consistantly higher. Perhaps those gubernmit's are not true socialists; it is difficult to be a true socialist in a Republic country unlike Canada which is a "parlimentary democracy". NDP and Liberal are well liked an in fact the Conservatives are not as favourable. WOW, how can you say that the NDP are well liked? The lonly reason the liberal's were voted in Ontario is because the voters were tired of the Conservatives! Look where voting in the Fiberals got us. 4 years of twisted truths & a bunch of lies! Gordon
QUOTE: Originally posted by M.W. Hemphill 1. Lincoln5390 did not say the system is disenfranchisement. He said there is "no guarantee there is not." That is a distinct difference: the highway system has been presumed beneficial to all since the early 1900s when the first federal road bills were passed, and that all would want it and find it of equal value. Was that presumption valid then? Is it valid now? 2. Motorists' user fees pay only part of the cost of the highway system. They do not pay for the lost property tax, which is not insignificant. Nor do they pay for the externalized marginal costs of operation. The Federal Highway Adminstration estimates that for the year 2000 the externalized costs not covered by user fees was $50 billion! That portion is shouldered by the general public irrespective of their use or disuse of the highways. Moreover, the feeder network of city streets and county roads is paid for mostly from general funds, not by user fees. That's another subsidy. Every day I work at home, I'm subsidizing with my property tax the *** next door who commutes 30 miles one-way to work. I would like him and everyone like him to quit driving so darn much, so highway and street expenses can go down, and, thus, my property tax can go down, too. Or, the highways and streets can start paying their share of property tax, and the user fees can go up to cover that. Then and only then will my neighbor be paying his fully allocated costs, and I won't be paying some of his costs for him. 3. Lincoln5390 illustrated the unequal aspects of the highway system by noting that a buggy or pedestrian cannot use it. His point seems obvious to me: the federal government carved out a huge public work that is subsidized by everyone but is not of equal utility to everyone and is not of equal right of access to everyone. It is limited access. The point that the buggy cannot drive on the Interstate is not that it should; it's that the public built an exclusionary system but asks everyone to pay for it. This is fair? I'm not advocating that we tear up the highway system, especially now that a great deal of the U.S. economy is wrapped around it. I'm advocating that before we reaffirm the decision that the highway system should continue to be subsidized, we should make sure that we have not slaughtered common sense and logic to reach that conclusion. Otherwise we're just voting our prejudices. It's possible, that if we costed it out, we might find that the highway system doesn't quite return the value for our tax dollars and user fees that we think we're getting. We'll never know as long as we believe in the myth that user fees pay the whole bill. For more FHA info on costs, see: http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/janpr/cost.htm
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